KK
by JJoseph
Summary: To save her life, C.C. gives Kallen Geass. When Geass drives her insane, C.C. is forced to take action. Kallen X C.C.
1. Power

There she was, at the agreed upon location, at the agreed upon time. Kallen opened the trunk of her car, clearly demonstrating to C.C. she had not kidnapped some helpless bystander in the hopes of gaining an advantage. Here they were, in the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest city, and hopefully miles away from the nearest person.

C.C. had sincerely believed Kallen was never going to show up, and certainly not alone and unarmed. Not after everything they had been through. She still suspected Kallen had a trick up her sleeve, but was unable to think of what. She carefully eyed Kallen's body, searching for signs of hidden weaponry.

"You can get out now, I'm not hiding anything," Kallen said. She turned around, allowing C.C. to confirm she had no weapons hidden on her back. "I really think you're overdoing this."

C.C. stepped out of her car. She kept her gun aimed at Kallen's heart. She did not believe she was overdoing anything. Her years with Kallen had only reinforced the belief that this woman was dangerous.

"Remove you sunglasses. Toss them behind you," C.C. ordered.

Kallen slid off the sunglasses and carefully threw them backwards. C.C. looked into her eyes and saw it. She saw the mark, clear as day, blazing proudly in both eyes, the mark of Geass. Among all the Geass users she encountered, Kallen's Geass was the most wantonly destructive, and as likely to kill the user as its target. Yet Kallen survived.

"With this, you're free, I imagine? Lelouch is dead, the Geass Directorate is gone, everyone who even knows what Geass is is either dead or," Kallen paused, lowering her eyes. "Erased."

Something was bothering C.C. Kallen shouldn't have been this calm, this relaxed. The last time C.C. had seen her, Kallen had been, well, insane. She was unable to even sleep for fear of losing control of her Geass. She looked too... rested.

"Are you going to get on with it and kill me?" Kallen looked almost bored.

Her hesitation ended. C.C. fired a large caliber round straight into Kallen's chest. The force caused her body to twist as the round exited her back, trailing blood several feet and painting the ground. Then she fired again, and again. She hated this. She hated how strong Kallen was, how dangerous it was to approach her, and how necessary this made it to fire at a distance before moving closer for the fatal shot. With Mao at least she had the opportunity to kill him at once, not drawn out like this.

C.C. watched Kallen's body drop into a puddle of blood. C.C. walked closer until she could align the gun vertically with Kallen's heart. She fired one last time. With this, C.C. let out her breath, not realizing she'd been holding it, and dropped the gun. It landed on Kallen's stomach and C.C. kicked it off. C.C. leaned into Kallen's face and placed her hand on Kallen's forehead, moving her hair from her eyes.

"I'm sorry," C.C. whispered, and kissed Kallen.

It felt like an eternity, or rather, it would have to anyone else, as C.C. felt Kallen's warmth. Then she opened her eyes as her hand felt something unnatural. She looked at her hand and saw a smudge of makeup matching Kallen's skin-tone darkening her fingers. Then she heard Kallen breathe.

Panicked, C.C. jetted back, about to scramble for her gun when a hand grabbed her throat, and another pinned her against the ground. Kallen was on top of her in an instant.

"Checkmate," Kallen's grinned widely.

As Kallen's grip tightened C.C. looked at her forehead and saw traces of slightly darker skin underneath the makeup. C.C.'s eyes widened in realization.

"It can't be," C.C. choked out, then lost consciousness.

3 years earlier:

"Power?"

"Power to slay you enemies. Power to change the world."

"In exchange for granting your wish, which you won't tell me?"

"Yes."

"Why should I agree to that?"

"Because it's the only way you'll get out of here alive."

Kallen swallowed. Here she was, negotiating with a dead woman over the conditions of her survival. One who died making a distraction to save her life. Despite how unbelievable this was, Kallen found she had little choice.

"I accept."

Kallen didn't feel much different. Then again, she was currently running for her life.

A door opened and a Britannian soldier emerged. Kallen made eye contact for a moment. She felt something leave her body.

"I've found..." the soldier started before clutching at his throat. He looked upwards and started flailing his arms frantically, throwing his gun to the side. His eyes widened before he fell to the ground. Water pooled around his body. Kallen stared, perplexed but aware his bizarre death was the result of this new power. There was no time, and Kallen ran.

Along the way Kallen encountered two more soldiers. The first started bleeding profusely from his chest as he screamed, until a sickening crack silenced him, and the other simply fell over dead, a look of terror forever frozen to his face.

1 year later:

"How's the pizza?"

"Great!" C.C. smiled.

Kallen smiled back.

After Schneizel revealed Zero's identity to the Black Knights, the suddenly childlike C.C. was left in Kallen's care. Ironically it was Zero who made this decision, which left Kallen wondering why he was already planning on leaving. Still, it was an interesting experience seeing the immortal mysterious waif suddenly reduced to a child.

Not only that, a frightened child, scared of everything but her own shadow. It took several days before C.C. was comfortable enough around Kallen that she stopped flinching every time raised a hand.

Over the first week they started to get to know one another.

And Kallen developed a crush.

A/N (Abridged): This fic is ultimately the combination of two ideas. The first one was Kallen taking care of C.C. while she lost her memories. When I watched R2 I noticed that shortly before Lelouch is outed as Zero, he leaves a message for Kallen leaving C.C. in her care. I saw this as an interesting move with the opportunity to see how Kallen reacts to the new C.C., but unfortunately nothing comes of it in the series proper, as C.C. regains her memories immediately after that.

The second part was, essentially, "What if, instead of Mao obsessing over C.C., it was Kallen?" I found this interesting, the idea of seeing Kallen go mad from Geass.

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	2. Corruption

C.C. shifted. She was unrestrained. Kallen's attention was on driving, and evidently felt C.C. was nonthreatening. After pausing to reflect, C.C. recognized Kallen was right. Kallen was tied with Suzaku for greatest living knightmare pilot, and C.C. suspected that if they had ever faced one another, Kallen would have narrowly won, although somehow each would think they'd lost. C.C. mused it was possible nothing would ever threaten Kallen again.

The question became: where was Kallen taking her?

Two years earlier:

"N... ...n." It was Lelouch's voice. He was saying something important. It was recent, Kallen recognized. It was from when he was outed as Zero. Maybe a few hours earlier. Maybe a few days earlier than that at most.

"Take care of C.C., and n... ...n."

Kallen awoke with another headache. She felt something wet on her stomach. She looked down. It was drool. Kallen looked up. C.C. was the source of the drool. She had snuck into Kallen's bed again. From carrying the mind of a twelve year old with nightmares, this made sense. From carrying an adult body, this was awkward.

The eye drops weren't helping. The aspirin wasn't helping. The headaches were getting worse. Kallen sighed and went back to sleep. Next morning they would talk.

"C.C." Kallen began, and C.C. stiffened. Kallen paused, then said C.C.'s name gently. C.C. relaxed. "There's something I need to tell you. I'm sure you noticed some... changes recently, ever since you met Lelouch."

Kallen paused. She wondered how to explain someone had lost centuries of memories.

"You mean how I'm an adult now? How you and Lelouch already knew me?"

Kallen stared blankly. Never underestimate the sharpness of a child's mind.

"And how everyone here thinks I was Lelouch's mistress."

Kallen grimaced. She felt as though she was being devoured by insects. Wait.

"Could you tell me... about me?"

Kallen hesitated, but concluded it was C.C.'s right. She told her about the woman who saved her life in Shinjuku. She left out the sight of C.C.'s corpse. She mentioned the cave where C.C. and Lelouch were together, and how C.C. had known his identity before Kallen. She left out any reference to Geass. But mostly, she told her about the year they'd been working together.

Then Kallen realized C.C.'s face had been getting closer. C.C. leaned in and started to tilt her head. Kallen started to close her eyes. The PA system went off. Kallen jolted back, stood upright, and blushed profusely. In that order.

"Oh, uh, there's a meeting I have to get to," Kallen left C.C. flabbergasted.

Kallen wasn't much good in the meeting. There was something of a power struggle in Britannia, but Kallen wasn't listening. Between her mind juggling the ethics of kissing a girl with amnesia and a skull splitting headache, it was as if she weren't there. Also, she felt she was forgetting something important.

"N... ...again."

After the meeting Chiba approached her. She looked concerned.

"You alright?" Chiba asked.

"You have nightmares where you are devoured by insects," Kallen said.

"What?" Chiba recoiled.

"Crawling all over your body," Kallen leaned in.

"Jesus, Kallen, quit being so morbid," Chiba said.

"Chewing at your eyes," Kallen brought her face close.

"Stop it!" Chiba pushed Kallen away. Kallen realized she was crying.

"Oh god, sorry," Kallen had been saying that a lot recently. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"It's, it's alright," Chiba said. "Just don't ever talk about that again."

Kallen's headache came back. She returned to her room. She took some aspirin. And some eye drops. And a cold compress.

"Never... ...again." Damn it, what was he saying?

Kallen sighed. Her mind wasn't really in it today.

"May I kiss you?" That got Kallen's attention. The suddenness with which she looked at her caused C.C. to jump.

"I-I know we're both girls, but... but they didn't seem to..." C.C. trailed off, blushing. She gestured to several graphic novels.

Kallen's mind blanked. She didn't think C.C. could read. Then she thought a moment. Literacy was optional.

"U-unless you don't want to," C.C. amended.

"It's ah, it's not that I don't want to," Kallen couldn't resist the urge to grin for some reason. "It's just that, ah FUCK!" Kallen clutched her skull. It was like a hangover having sex with a marching band.

"I'll get some water," C.C. sprang up. Kallen grabbed her wrist.

"Wait."

Kallen rose. She put a hand on C.C.'s side, and a hand on her cheek.

"Once when we were together, when you thought I was asleep," Kallen said.

C.C. closed her eyes, and Kallen kissed her.

Then Kallen remembered.

"Never use your Geass again." It was an order. A command. A Geass. They erased one so they could add another.

She pulled back.

"I have a Geass?"

"Kallen, you're eye is glowing," Kallen and C.C. started clutching their eyes. It was an excruciating experience, and then it was over.

"What was that?" Kallen asked quietly.

"Kallen," C.C.'s voice seemed deeper almost. Kallen was about to say something when she heard a scream.

Kallen opened the door. She saw blood covering the walls. She saw a figure spasm in agony. It clutched its face.

"Chiba?"

For an instant, Kallen saw a black cloud enveloping the body. Then it was gone. Then it was quiet. Then the screaming started again, from all directions. Kallen fell.

"I didn't... I would never..."

C.C. grabbed Kallen by the shoulders.

"Kallen, get a hold of yourself!" C.C. stared her in the eye. "We have to leave or everyone is going to die!"

"This is what happened to Lelouch. This is why... Euphemia had to die."

Kallen could never bring herself to remember what happened next. She saw was the ship crash into the ocean. She didn't see anyone else escape.

A/N: I recently had a brain storm. One of my troubles was that Lelouch would never throw Kallen under the bus. If he knew he were going to die (which he did) he would have made sure something was done about Kallen's Geass before it went out of control. Then it hit me, he could use his Geass to seal Kallen's, much the same as the emperor did with Lelouch. I was so excited to solve this problem that I went on a writing spree. Then I checked my old notes from 2009. It contained the following sentence:

Lelouch uses his Geas[sic] to seal Kallen's Geas[sic], until it become[sic] permanent. Lelouch does not anticipate this before his death.

I don't know if I'm an idiot for forgetting.

Edit: I fixed some continuity errors in this chapter, namely that Kallen referenced C.C.'s explanation as to why both Lelouch and Kallen have Geass, despite the fact that she currently didn't know about her own Geass. My practice of reading the previous chapter before submitting the new one is really coming in handy.

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	3. Intermission: The Beach

It was cold. It was wet. Most of all it was cold.

Kallen hadn't spoken since it happened. Neither had C.C., but her silence was less uncommon. Tommorrow they would need to find a more permanent shelter, but they were fine for the moment. They were sitting in front of a fire Kallen had built. Kallen had been staring into the fire constantly for the last hour. C.C. knew this because she had been watching Kallen's face intently

"You have powers, right?" Kallen broke the silence. "Not just Geass and immortality, but other things too?"

"Yes," C.C. said quietly.

She didn't resist when Kallen placed her hand across her neck, risingly slowly to caress her cheek. She didn't resist when Kallen moved towards her and wrapped her arm across her back, resting on her side.

She didn't resist when Kallen kissed her. Kallen pulled back.

"Can you make me forget?" Kallen asked. She sounded flat, defeated. It was a question that held no expectations for affirmation.

"No."

Kallen kissed C.C.'s jawline, then rested her head beneath her chin. Her hand slid down to C.C.'s shoulder, then to her hip, then to the ground. C.C.'s arms slowly rose to Kallen's shoulders. Kallen twitched slightly when C.C. embraced her, and she began crying softly.

"It wasn't your fault."

Kallen clutched C.C.'s back and began to cry openly.

The next morning, C.C. awoke first. Her clothes had dried somewhat during the night, but still smelled of the ocean. With no other sets at her disposal, C.C. decided to take them down from the makeshift clothesline.

She went for a brief walk along the beach. The island they landed on didn't have anyone nearby, but C.C. could make out a house in the distance. She made her way back to the lifeboat.

During the night Kallen had had nightmares, but at the moment she looked peaceful. She ran her fingers through Kallen's bangs, pushing them out of her eyes. Kallen arched her neck, wrinkled her eyes, and awoke. She surveyed her surroundings lazily, stopping for a moment to look up at C.C.

"Good morning," C.C. whispered.

Kallen avoided her gaze. She withdrew her hands and hurriedly got dressed.

"I'm sorry, a-about last night," Kallen looked away.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when C.C. embraced her from behind.

"Don't apologize," C.C. pressed her cheek against Kallen's neck.

"You're not mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"Because I, when I was," Kallen naturally sounded uncomfortable. "I pressured you to..."

"I didn't do anything I didn't want to," C.C. sounded confident. She brought up a hand to touch Kallen's lips. C.C. craned her neck upward to whisper in Kallen's ear. "I love you."

Kallen's knees buckled. Almost spinning Kallen turned to C.C. and buried her face in C.C.'s chest, tears streaming down her face.

"Don't ever leave."

A/N: Starting out, I knew there had to be a fluff chapter. Hell, the fluff was the whole reason I started writing this thing.

This chapter is something of an intermission, since the chapter I intended to place here has been written and rewritten an incredibly irritating number of times.

The logistics are just, just so hard to get right. It's all because I decided to give Kallen a field-based Geass. What's annoying is the only reason it's field based is because I originally intended for a huge dramatic Kallen vs. Rolo knightmare frame fight scene that would take place during the final battle. (Having Rolo survive until the final battle was just one of the many logistical nightmares that prevented this version of the fanfiction from coming to light.) I might, but probably won't, write that as a stand alone, since it's not compatible with this.

I think originally I was going to have Kallen's Geass become permanent either during the final battle or at Zero's Requium, but I guess I eventually just distilled it down to the real reason I was writing this, the Kallen X C.C. fluff. That's what this is about, that's what this has always been about.

Why do I always come up with contrived elaborate scenarios in order to justify my romance stories? I do this even when I'm not working with fanfiction.

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Edit: Okay, is really pissing me off because it keeps screwing up my formatting. There doesn't seem to be a way to fix it, so I'm going to have to leave it as is.


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